A Chinese university professor has been accused of verbally insulting a nurse and then attacking a laboratory chief who tried to intervene, according to media reports.

The 48-year-old academic, surnamed An, became enraged after the nurse had repeatedly failed to draw a blood sample from his pregnant wife, Beijing Youth Daily reported on Wednesday.

When the head of the clinical laboratory at Northwest Women’s and Children’s Hospital in Xian, the capital of the northwestern province of Shaanxi, tried to calm the man, he was repeatedly kicked and punched and left with mild concussion and cuts.

“We feel really heartbroken about the incident as our school highly values the discipline of teachers. The school will learn its lessons, strengthen morals training among teachers and uphold a good image,” the statement continued.

China’s overburdened and underresourced hospitals have witnessed a string of similar incidents in recent years – some of them fatal – as angry patients take out their frustrations on medical staff.

Last year an academic at Shaanxi University of Science and Technology, also in Xian, was detained for 10 days after assaulting a female road sweeper following an argument.